January 9, 2007

The Wolf Education and Research Center is saddened to announce the passing of another member of the Sawtooth Pack: Wolves of the Nez Perce. The long time alpha-female Ayet was discovered deceased on Christmas Eve, December 24. Ayet was recently removed from her alpha-female rank by her sister, Motoki, after a severe wind storm that fell three trees across the fences of the pack's enclosure and disrupted pack hierarchy dynamics. Motoki successfully deposed Ayet two days after the storm, and Ayet appeared to accept her new position as a submissive within the hierarchy.

As with all alpha depositions, Ayet endured an increase in dominance displays from the pack and thus sustained some moderate injuries to her rump and hind legs. Such injuries are normal for captive wolf hierarchy disputes, and Ayet continued normal health for the next five days until she suddenly died in the early morning of December 24. A necropsy has shown that Ayet sustained a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot that traveled from the injured muscle of her hind legs to her lungs, ending her life instantly. There is no realistic treatment or prevention for such a condition in captive wolves. The pack and WERC staff are now recovering from the loss of our "little sister", and the pack hierarchy has stabilized again. Ayet was ten and a half years old, and will be missed by us all.

-J. Heft